Driftwood Cottage, near Portsoy's historic harbour-stunning garden

Having welcomed our first guests at the end of March 2019, Driftwood Cottage is already a firm favourite with many return visitors. Driftwood must be one of the prettiest cottages in Portsoy. It is often photographed, with it’s seaside theme and location all working in it’s favour! I hope the photos will give you a feel of the place.

The cottage has a king size double bedroom, shower room, lounge and kitchen, all on the ground floor. Upstairs the twin room and children’s play area both have low ceilings (and are up some fairly steep stairs!) so the cottage is best suited either for couples of those with young families. Of course, like all our cottages, we have good WiFi and your four legged friends are very welcome.

For me, apart from the location, the garden is one of the biggest attractions! There are 3 terraces as you climb the hill behind the cottage, with the view improving from each one! There is a barbeque area, plenty of seating, even a fish pond, and at the top, a ‘sitooterie’ (a summer house!), where you can sit out, enjoy your G&T (or cup of tea!) and look out over the higgledy piggledy roof tops of the historic conservation area and beyond that, out to sea.

Portsoy is a welcoming small town, with a lot going on for it’s size. It has a fantastic sense of community, with the caravan park, the 4 star Salmon Bothy museum, the Sail Loft Bunkhouse and the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival all being run by the community for the community. It is centred around it’s historic seventeenth century harbour with it's New Harbour dating from 1825. The area is little changed in years and was used as the film setting for the recent remake of Whisky Galore and the final season of Peaky Blinders. The fishing industry has largely moved on, but you can often see the town’s two St Ayles skiffs rowing out from the harbour!

There are some fantastic walks round Portsoy, whether you walk westwards, past the old swimming pool carved out amongst the rocks, along the rugged coastline towards Sandend (pronounced ‘Sanine’) or further along to Findlater Castle, Sunnyside Beach and Cullen, or eastwards along the Coastguard’s path. There is the Shore Inn between the cottage and the harbours… and of course the award winning Portsoy Ice Cream shop.

The Banffshire coast is one of the world’s outstanding coastlines, says the National Geographic. Natural beauty combines with plentiful wildlife – there are dolphins, seals, puffins and other seabirds in abundance, if you are lucky enough to see them. Fishing villages all along the coast perch on clifftops, or crouch precariously at the water’s edge, with the oldest houses built gable-end on to the weather and the waves.

In the summer, the light up here is special, days are near endless. Winter skies are dark and starry and – with a bit of luck – you might even see the Northern Lights!

We hope you will visit Driftwood and discover this often overlooked corner of the North East of Scotland for yourselves!